worms

/wɜːmz/

noun

1.

(functioning as sing) any disease or disorder, usually of the intestine, characterized by infestation with parasitic worms

Worms

/wɜːmz; German vɔrms/

noun

1.

a city in SW Germany, in Rhineland-Palatinate on the Rhine: famous as the seat of imperial diets, notably that of 1521, before which Luther defended his doctrines in the presence of Charles V; river port and manufacturing centre with a large wine trade. Pop: 81 100 (2003 est)

Worms

city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. Worms is a port on the left (west) bank of the Rhine River, just northwest of Mannheim. Known originally as Celtic Borbetomagus, by the reign of Julius Caesar it was called Civitas Vangionum, the chief town of the Vangiones. In AD 413 it became the capital of the Burgundians, who, after disputes with the Romans, rose in revolt in 435 against the Roman governor Flavius Aelius. He called upon his Hun allies, who destroyed the city in 436. The Hun destruction of Worms and the Burgundian kingdom inspired heroic legends in the epic poem of the Nibelungenlied (c. 1200).